The field of the present disclosure generally relates to firearm components, and more particularly to an increased capacity magazine for use with firearms.
Magazines for firearms, and in particular, military style rifles are fairly consistent in their design, shape, and capacity. For example, STANAG, also known as a NATO Standard, magazines are often similar in design, shape, and capacity. At least one reason for their similarity is to maintain substantially the same weight and balance of the rifle. Another design consideration is that certain military shooting techniques, such as a prone shooting position, may limit a maximum length that the magazine can protrude from the rifle. For example, if the magazine is too long, the overall dimensions of the magazine and rifle system may cause the magazine to undesirably strike the ground. These considerations and many others may limit the internal capacity of such magazines.
Other design considerations may include the functionality and/or reliability of the magazine. Specifically a magazine must enable the systematic and orderly feeding of ammunition into the weapon. Most magazines having an increased capacity incorporate an alternating pattern of ammunition, or a “double stack” design. However, such designs generally do not meet the dimension requirements described herein. At least some other magazines having an increased capacity require an increased mechanical complexity as compared to a double stack magazine design. For example, at least some known magazines accomplish increased capacity by feeding ammunition from two or more alternating patterns of stacks of ammunition. However, generally, such magazines including those known as “quad-stack” magazines, may typically have decreased reliability due to mechanical failures. Therefore, it would be desirable to provide a reliable high capacity magazine that is not mechanically complex and that satisfies the design requirements that enable it to be used with existing weapons.